With the brigands cleared away the trio could finally reunite. Like they could surmise, Xing Lei had indeed gotten larger, when he rose he was much closer to Alustriea in size now than before. Osilliaice still towered over them both but the size difference between herself and her mate had taken a much more welcome turn in her mind. Alustriea still looked at him with a sceptical gaze, "What did you mean it was the body tempering?"
Xing Lei had moved over focusing on the magic to heal the ugly bruising on her forearm as he answered, "Body tempering strengthens your body obviously, all that impurity that you expell is replaced by power. Along with extending your vitality and improving your natural strength, it also improves your physical resistances. A blade can still cut you, but the weapon would need to be swung by someone like myself. You could even take a light strike by Destorianaxe in your current tier. Wouldn't advise it though, even at my level it still hurts like hell."
Alustriea thought on that then glanced at him, "Speaking from experience?"
Xing Lei nodded pulling her sleeve back down as Osilliaice finished looting the brigands, "I pissed her off and she smacked me half decently. Even with my tempering I was nearly turned into a bloody mess. Dragon strength is nothing to scoff at."
Osilliaice shook her head, "Besides that what did your evolution give you? Over two weeks as an egg, the changes must be large."
Xing Lei though a moment before checking his status...
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Name: Xing Lei (Dull Scale, Kobolicus)
Gender: Male
Race: Kobold (Progenitor)
Level: 1
Job: Soul Traveller Rank: Mithril
Titles: Slayer of the Forest Lord, Elven Outcast, Fleet Spear's Mate, Dwarf Friend, Executioner of Infernals, Ally of House Luen, Arena Master, Dragonmarked, Xing Kah's Father, Tyrix's Bane, Quellia's Bane
Strength: 10 (+16) Dexterity: 10 (+16)
Constitution: 10 (+16) Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 18 Charisma: 10 (+16)
Charm: 10 (+16) Luck: 15
Mana: 80/80
Condition: Healthy
Innate Abilities: Varied Voice (Supreme) Rank: Demon Steel, Alchemy Flame (Novice) Rank: Silver, Inspection (Intermediate) Rank: Iron, Draconic Breath (Intermeadiate) Rank: Copper
Skills: Alchemy (Novice) Rank: Bronze, Crimson Mountain Sects Body Tempering (Intermeadiate) Rank: Thunderstone, [Dragon Scales], [Dragon Fertility], [Sealed], [Sealed], Herbology (Basic) Rank: Iron, Cloud Dragons Spear Technique (Basic) Rank: Dark Gold, Weapon Crafting (Basic) Rank: Iron, Kobold Swordsmanship (Basic) Rank: Iron, Kobold Archery (Basic) Rank: Silver, Pottery (Basic) Rank: Iron, Stealth (Basic) Rank: Mithril, Kobold Axe Weilding (Basic) Rank: Copper, Elven Spellcasting (Basic) Rank: Copper, Draconic Spellcasting (Novice) Rank: Dark Gold, Drow Hand Crossbow Expertise (Novice) Rank: Gold, Kobold Sabre Weilding (Novice) Rank: Iron
Elven Spells: Ignite
Draconic Spells: Minor Heal, Curse, Bless, Dragon's Strength, Light Heal, Light Harm, Dragon Fear, Heavenly Feast, Wyverns Grace
Unused Points: 0
Tyrix's Bane/Quellia's Bane - For disrupting the plans of the prime dark gods their cults and agents view you as a prime target of elimination or sacrifice to earn either gods blessing.
============================
Xing Lei frowned looking over his new information, "It would seem my evolution benefitted mostly my bloodline. Both my draconic body and breath improved, where as my stats seem to have baselined. Other than my appearance changing it seems this evolution isn't all that stronger than my variant bloodline."
Osilliaice tilted her head looking at him, "Likely means your choice is less a combat evolution, did you gain any new abilities?"
Xing Lei shook his head, "My draconic breath jumped a rank but beyond that one of the seals on my tempering technique unlocked."
Alustriea motioned towards the pile of bodies nearby, "Well you can try your breath on them, see if it got stronger."
Xing Lei glanced over and nodded, they needed to deal with the evidence before the army started looking for their wayward troops. Moving over he focused his thoughts on the pile, the particular thing of this was it almost felt like he suddenly had a choice. The strange feeling on his throat tickled slightly, different from when he spit flames. Inhaling slowly he changed his usual exhale into more of a spit as a thin stream of green spray erupted from the depth of his mouth. The taste on his tongue was quite wretched as the goo sprayed upon the corpses and the dead flesh began to sizzle and melt.
His mates blinked expecting a more intense flame but when Xing Lei exhaled a spray of intense acid doused the pile melting armor and flesh, bone and organ, turning the grisly reminder of their victory over the brigand troop into a puddle of steaming slime in short order. Wiping his muzzle, Xing Lei looked rather perturbed by this change to his breath weapon. "Will have to be careful when we kiss in future."
Hearing his words Alustriea and Osilliaice both nodded in unison. "Any other changes?" Osilliaice asked returning to her senses quicker than Alustriea who had touched her mouth absently.
Xing Lei shook his head, "With the near completion of my tempering, my technique has unsealed another aspect related to dragon fertility, though I'm not sure how it will apply."
Both Osilliaice and Alustriea frowned and felt like smacking him, he obviously wasn't stupid but to wonder how fertility could be used left Alustriea blushing hotly and Osilliaice silencing making a choice when next they had a chance to lay with her mate. Xing Lei in the interim just looked between Alustriea's embarrased visage and Osilliaice's determined one and shrugged when no forth coming suggestion was made.
"Regardless, it looks like the evolution reset me somewhat, my stats are more streamlined, a few are outright reduced but it should not affect me adversely my tempering more than makes up the difference." Xing Lei continued, considering his status. His physical stats were more or less the same as before but it looked like his charisma and charm had taken hits, likely due to his more primal appearance.
With the discussion coming to a close he helped the pair with breaking down their camp site before swiftly heading south. A number of the bandit like soldiers had made good their escape and it would not do to linger in the area when they returned to their forces assaulting the border town, long before the routed group could gather reinforcements, the trio was already making good time through the open southern lands.
The vibrant green plains soon gave way to paler grass patches as the land shifted from a rich open plain to a harsher scrubland. Vibrant foliage became a scarcity as the three travelled further south. A hot wind blew across their faces as the few hours of walking soon saw the open wasteland of the southern desert come into view. Here, the scrubland became more rocky, a rolling stone hill area that sectioned off the dunes sea of golden sand. Off to the side they could see a wide trade road that winded off into the south, every now and then riders, dressed in much the same fashion as the faux refugee army raced along that route in both directions.
The sight of these messengers reinforced their choice to brave the dunes, shifting their path into the open sandy dunes as the sun beat down on their heads. Digging out a head wrap from her travel bag, Alustriea covered her pale hair and face while the two reptiles enjoyed the warmth that beat down relentlessly on their scales. Slowly the trio forced their way through the sands, without the ease of the road the slow trudge they set for themselves was slowed considerably.
As expected both he and Osilliaice had the easiest time of their determined walk, while the loose sand posed some issue the vast heat that relentlessly beat down on them was more invigorating than anything. In contrast it was Alustriea who was less than thrilled, thanks to her tempering she managed along behind the other two far longer than either Xing Lei or even herself had imagined before it started to truly effect her body. It became vastly clear high elven constitutions were hardly made for a sandy wasteland.
Clutching a canteen that she sipped readily from, the elf walked on behind the others frowning as the sand seemed to cling to her robe, some how working it's way under the concealing garment to irritate her tender skin. Osilliaice didn't seem to mind but Alustriea could barely look her friends way, the gold and silver elven armor she still wore was like a second sun trudging along just in front of her. The metal reflecting the brilliance of the true, cruel orb not descending anywhere fast enough to hide the brilliant glare reflecting off the armor.
Like herself, Xing Lei wore a thin robe. Unlike Alustriea's own, the robe was thin and hid his lean muscular body only slightly. The unrelenting sun seemed drawn to his dark scales, the brilliant light simply showed off the darkness of those scales as compared to his mate they reflected nothing and drew in the light unceasingly. Glancing tiredly from one to the other, Alustriea walked on in their wake, sweat literally flowing over her forehead from the unbearable heat of the region assaulting her body more use to cool forests and streams.
Xing Lei kept an eye on his elvish lover, she was putting on a brave front matching his and his mates pace but her heavy breaths and liberal indulgence of the canteen spoke a tale of a woman pushing herself. They had not made very good time to be honest, the shifting sands had made their passage insanely slow. The sun, while not so bothersome to him currently, he recalled for his old self his first time in a desert was much the same, body tempering carried you so far but unless you were use to the environment it quickly drained your stamina.
"One more hour Osilliaice, Alustriea. We'll stop to rest at that time before pushing on."
Alustriea gave a relieved sigh that the nodding Osilliaice chuckled at. While it surely was a trial for her elven friend, she felt their course through the desert really hadn't been that strenuous. Her armor was a little hot but short of carrying it on her back and having the metal pressing to her scales it wasn't near as bad on her body. Looking upwards briefly, she felt much more an hour she could likely continue the pace well till night fell.
True to his word though, an hour later he brought their march to a halt in the shadow of a large dunes. Pulling out a cloth tarp, the kobold set about erecting a simple lean to to keep the blowing sands off them. Taking Alustriea's canteen and replacing it with a full one, the elf drank greedily letting the water splash over her face to cool down her face. What she wouldn't give for a lovely cool stream to bath in, to shuck her sand covered robe and submerge herself in the chill brook of her homeland.
The reptiles watched her dousing herself with water and chuckled sating their own thirsts as Alustriea realized what she was doing and blushed fiercely, apologizing for wasting the water she had almost bathed her robes in. It didn't bother Xing Lei at all, he had realized early on his elven lover really lacked experience with this sort of environment so he was sure not to just get extra canteens but also filled several barrels of water in his ring. Until Alustriea acclimated to the harsh temperatures she would likely continue to waste water. While he could use a spell to make water on the fly, he had learned earlier on, he had no control over its taste or temperature. Most often the water was warm and tasted almost sterile, it sated the body but the fluid had little ability to cool the body or quench a thirst.
Watching as Alustriea tried to shake the sand out of her head wrap then tried to get it out of her long wheat colored hair he just hoped he prepared enough. A desert trek was one of the hardest things to do with no prior exposure, his own first within a desert was a brutal experience. He had run out of water, assaulted by monstrous beasts as he dragged himself to an oasis only to have to be careful of the nomadic tribes that claimed rights to those waters. Smiling inwardly watching Alustriea fuss and softly curse, he hoped to spare his lover the desperation of that vicious thirst, but time would tell just how they would all fare.